Cade Davis of the Southwest Atom team chases down the puck at the 2017 BT Hockey Classic. (Steve Seto/HockeyNow)

The second last day of the eighth annual Breakfast Television (BT) Hockey Classic
was filled with iconic Canadian heroes on Thursday. Former Team Canada
captain Cassie Campbell-Pascall and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee
Danielle Goyette were in Calgary to share the excitement of atom players
as two games were featured live on City.

Each player was introduced before the game, and they embraced their
NHL moment by rushing out onto the ice after hearing their name over the
PA system – complete with a boisterous crowd to cheer them on.

And on top of the fun and excitement, Goyette she’s happy just to see
one more opportunity out in the world for kids to play the game.

“When I look at that today, kids have so many opportunities and they
just need a chance to be part of it. We try to make it more accessible
for kids, for me I always say sport is the best school of life. You
learn so much going through that,” said Goyette, who won two Olympic
gold medals and eight world championships with Team Canada.

“When you have a chance to be on TV, it’s pretty special. I’m sure
that some of these kids had problems getting to sleep last night because
they knew they’d be on TV today.”

But sleep or not, everyone showed up bright and early and ready to hit the ice.

“You can see the kids, as tired as we are to be here at five in the
morning, arrive so fresh ready to go. Just excited to be on TV and going
on the ice, it really rejuvenates us,” City producer Ian Busby said.

The kids are of course thrilled to play at WinSport and have their
moment of fame, but Busby said that for the City crew and Hockey
Calgary, the event has an even greater payoff for all involved.

“It really connects us with the community. It was a way to have
something great for the kids and gives us a chance to be out amongst our
viewership and really give the kids a platform,” Busby said. “We see
the dedication the parents have to their kids in playing hockey because
to drag their whole family out of bed and a lot of times we bring
siblings on and talk to them about watching brothers or sisters play.”

The tournament’s focus is to help reconnect kids with their love of
the game, without worrying about where they are in the standings. And of
course, even though we’re all told hockey and so many other sports
should be all about fun, it’s easy to lose sight of that after the
buzzer or whistle blows.

As Campbell-Pascall explained at Thursday’s BT Hockey Classic games:
“Hockey is generally a sport about winning and losing, but I think if
you’re not having fun at all you don’t have a chance to be good at it.

“And I think we’re really missing the point of why kids are playing
minor sports is they should be having fun, they should be meeting
friends, they should be learning about character and discipline and hard
work and all those things, but just let them play, just let them have
fun.”

That sentiment was seen across the ice the entire morning, especially
in the second game between Simons Valley and the Saints Hockey Club as
they left it all out on the ice in a 5-4 nailbiter.

And games just like that are the ones that teach you to push your
boundaries and tap into some of the best parts of playing on a team.

“Be in something that is going to challenge you to get out of your
comfort zone, because if you don’t get out of your comfort zone you’ll
never grow as a person,” said Goyette. "We have the power with sport to
make people better and help them to grow and its something we’ll have to
do more and more.”

The BT Hockey Classic
couldn’t accept any more teams as they quickly reached the 52 maximum.
The tournament wraps up on Friday with the championship games also being
featured on City’s Breakfast Television. Stay tuned for more coverage
from HockeyNow.

Established in 1999, HockeyNow is the only magazine delivering the best in news and stories from across the minor, junior, collegiate and female hockey ranks, both in print and through our world-class website at HockeyNow.ca. Print copies of our 43 annual issues are available free in hockey rinks across B.C., Alberta, and Ontario. We are deeply involved and committed to developing and promoting the game of hockey to our readers through unique perspectives and stories they won’t find anywhere else. See more...